Three players: an awkward number of players

My brother, father and I play a lot of board games. I would say it is the main way in which we relate to each other.

We have been playing as a 3 player group since me and my brother learned to hold cards and roll dice. Playing for so long, we have all kinds of weird unspoken rules, behaviors that it makes it difficult for anyone else to play a game with us. Most people who have tried, have been like “never again”. This particular game group is probably always going to be 3 player until one of us rides off into the great beyond.

Three players is a weird number for board games. There are many choices for 2 and 4 players games, but very few are actually optimized for 3.

Some good ones include Greenland, Three Kingdoms and Maria, but they are few and far between in the board game landscape.

Mostly, we have played a game that says it works with three, but is actually broken at that player count. Now, we have bought the game, taken the time to learn it and find that it doesn’t actually work at 3, even though it said so on the box.

Sad days. So, what can be done? Has anyone else experienced this or other challenges of an odd numbered game group?

Advertisement